October of 2017, while helping a couple mount a truck cap I was getting rid of onto the box of their Ford F-250, I decided toward the end that I could fly. Well, more like thought I was Bruce Lee. I remember still, within a second after jumping of...

Just when I was gearing up to start up production for this quarter and next year, I go and do a really stupid thing. A few days ago I was in the bed of a Ford F-250 pickup, helping to get a 6’ x 8’ cap onto the box. I was so focuse...

This will be a gift to the wife, as she has been asking for some time that I make a low-level floor stand for her large plants. As I have been building this I’ve come to the conclusion I would like to make more of these, in various wood ...

In at least one of my previous posts you will find the DeWALT 734 thickness planer sitting atop a smaller bench in the background. This was a major step up (no pun intended!) from the floor dolly it was sitting on. But it had two drawbacks that I ...

11 comments so far

Hey, ya, Paul,I just got off Google Maps to see where your town is. I was up in that neck of the woods about ten years ago when I took my oldest daughter up to Potsdam when she started attending Clarkson University. We flew into Syracuse and drove up 81/11 from there. Lot of pretty country up through there.

My wife went to college at SUNY Potsdam. They truly define ‘winter’ up there. :)

How did your daughter like Clarkson? My youngest brother (soon to be 51) almost chose Clarkson over R.I.T. when he graduated from high school. I hear it’s a great school.

Both my daughters live at the Western end of New York, so we go through Syracuse to get onto The Thruway. If we ever leave our little city, it would either be to get closer to the kids or be in a neighboring community of Syracuse. It certainly would be easier to find quality lumber.

The countryside on my half of New York is beautiful year ‘round. The rolling hills and forest covered hills make it a great place to visit. I hope you get a chance to come out our way again. If you do, let me know.

We have both Amish and Mennonites around here, Ed. They tend to stick to the remote countryside, but since that means winding, narrow roads in the hills, one really has to be careful not to come around a limited vision corner and hit a buggy. Good people. I don’t believe we ever have conflicts around here, at least none that make the news.

That is a long haul. I’m sure it was the best choice for her and the family.

Syracuse is in the ‘snow belt’ region of the State. You only have to go about 15 miles North of us to officially be in the belt. I think in recent years Syracuse has received more snow over the course of the winter than Buffalo. Buffalo wins with record dumps, though. Well, as much as moving closer to Syracuse brings us harsher winters, if we have to live in the State it really doesn’t matter where we go, so we might as well get closer to entertainment and shopping places.

All of this was made possible by the existence of the Chenango Canal , which ran right through the little city of Norwich. If I can remember to, I will take a couple of pictures of landmark sign references to the city’s involvement in the war and post the link to them here.

Quite a few years ago, as a young insurance agent in the community, I attended a banquette that hosted a local historian and museum curator as guest speaker. Her topic of discussion was on the Chenango Canal in Norwich. In a nutshell, the town fathers wanted so badly for the canal to come through our city they coerced, bribed and extorted officials to get it. I forgot the cost, somewhere around a million dollars to build it. I haven’t a clue how much that would be in today’s currency. Many, many bananas.

Today, we have streets that were formed over the filled in canalways, which explains why their shapes and pathways are the way they are. Signs of the canal can still be found along State Route 12, which bisects Norwich as well as the state.